The plan would see a micropayment made to access shows after they have been show on BBC iPlayer’s seven-day catch up TV service

The BBC is considering introducing controversial plans to charge viewers for watching TV shows from its huge archive of content online.

Under the plan the corporation is looking at introducing a "pay-per-view" scheme to charge viewers who want to watch thousands of hours of BBC programming after it has appeared on the iPlayer's seven-day catch up TV service.

The scheme is one of a number of ideas the corporation is looking at to attempt to recoup some of the considerable cost of making the BBC's enormous archive of programming available for viewing online.

It is almost certain to court controversy with licence-fee payers who are already charged £145.50 a year for access to BBC programming.

However, a spokesman for the BBC said that this is not a "two-tier" licence fee system, but a micropayment to cover costs including payments that would have to be made to programme makers for the rights.

"We never stop future-gazing at the BBC and there are always a number of new ideas under discussion," said the spokesman. "Any such ideas would need to be developed in conjunction with the industry and with rights-holders and they would certainly not lead to a two-tier licence fee."

The plan does not involve BBC Worldwide, which is responsible for commercialising BBC content, and would only involve charging a small fee to cover costs.

If the "pay-per-view" scheme gets the greenlight it will not be implemented until about 2016.

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